


Hang your rainbow on high

by Inky_Scribbles



Series: Asexual Dick Stories [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Character, Bruce finds out Jason is Gay, Bruce is mentioned - Freeform, Dick Grayson is a good bro, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gay Character, Gen, One Shot, Pizza makes everything better, Pre Jason's Death, Well he tries his best, although it's not really talked about except in vague terms, and then feels regret, he makes Mistakes, its okay at the end though, wow what a great dad A++
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 10:17:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17599406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inky_Scribbles/pseuds/Inky_Scribbles
Summary: It was quiet.A car went by.Two people rushed by down below, huddling together and whispering in hushed voices as they hurried home.Dick cleared his throat."Jason?"Jason didn't say anything."Do you..." his voice wavered a moment, but he cleared it as quietly as possible. "Do you want to talk about it?"





	Hang your rainbow on high

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this was set before All These Cards In A Deck, And I'd Still Choose You, but was written after Take The End Of This Daisy Chain, and before whatever comes next. I wasn't sure how to put it at the beginning, but I might be able to edit it after I upload? I don't know.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy!

It hadn't taken long to find Jason, in the end. He had retreated, like any scared kid would. Like Dick knew he would. It was only a matter of time before he found him, in any case— especially with Bruce out searching and Alfred back in the Cave with the cameras on look-out. 

But Bruce probably thought Jason was at one of his new hangouts, spread across town. Dick knew that he favoured warehouses nowadays. Probably so that he could beat up some crooks while he was brooding or something; Bruce's influence, or his own temper, Dick could never tell.

Either way, Dick knew better. In the end, with something personal like this, Jason would always go back home. Back to where he felt he belonged, not a place he had to be taught to be, and certainly not a place Bruce would find him. He couldn't exactly go back to his street-hangouts from way back when, but he could sneak through an old apartment building window, no sweat.

And so it has been at his old apartment, back before Bruce, or Alfred, or Dick, or Robin, that Dick found the trembling clod of Jason. 

The apartment was dim with the encroaching night, lit only by the street lamps out the open window, which let in a cold breeze. The room was dusty and empty, but even so Dick could see the vague signs from when it had been lived in; a dent where a door must have been slammed, the stain of smoke on the ceiling where a crack in an old chimney had released gas. Things like that.

Jason had buried himself into his cape, mask thrust across the floor where it still rocked gently in the shivering breeze. A sheaf of hair peaked out from above the bright-yellow of the fabric, but even that trembled with the force of holding in his sobs. 

Dick wanted to say something. He did. But coming up with what to say didn't come easy, and with the topic of this whole mess hanging over both of their heads— well... He was coming up a little blank. It hit too close to home, he supposed. Not that he had gathered up the courage to talk about that yet (he wondered frantically at night, sometimes, if he ever would).

In the end, he decided to sit down against the same wall as Jason had, legs stretched out in front of him. His shoulders hunched inwards as he attempted not to brush against Jason, because he had never been much keen on that kind of thing. It was quiet.

A car went by.

Two people rushed by down below, huddling together and whispering in hushed voices as they hurried home. 

Dick cleared his throat.

"Jason?"

Jason didn't say anything.

Dick didn't bother asking if he was okay. Even if he couldn't think of much to say, it was clear that Jason wasn't in the mood for small talk. And he definitely was not okay, anyway. Anyone could see that.

"Do you..." his voice wavered a moment, but he cleared it as quietly as possible. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jason, who had been still in listening to him, shivered and ducked closer into himself, if that was even possible. The only thing left to see above the cape was the nape of his neck. A definite "no".

"Okay, then." He decided on another approach. "Do you want to know how I knew you'd be here? Don't worry," he tacked on, remembering Bruce's no doubt fruitless searching somewhere in the west. Well, fruitless, unless he was searching for some particularly inspired boobytraps. "Bruce won't find you."

Jason didn't answer, but that was to be expected. Jason, like Bruce, didn't much like showing what he deemed a weakness. Crying, in this case. Dick pretended he couldn't see it, clear as day.

"Well, when I was about your age— and before that too, actually, but not really on the same level— when I really didn't like it in the manor... When I didn't like it with Bruce, I'd try to find my own place, y'know? I wanted to be on my own. But at the same time, I wanted to be with my parents, at the... The circus. I used to go looking for—"

"I don't want to hear your sob story."

Dick smiled wryly. "No," he agreed.

"Shut up." He was going for fierce, but the way his voice wobbled lost the effect. He went quiet, but not quite because he was pausing the conversation. "I hate you." His breath stuttered as the air rushed in. "... I hate Bruce..." The cape rose and fell with a sigh. "... More."

Dick stayed obediently silent, but coming from Jason, something like that was the equivalent of saying "stay". He pulled his knees to his chest, too.

But Jason didn't speak anymore. Dick sighed.

"He means well— probably. He's just an ass."

"I hate him," it came in a whisper, harsh and loud in the quiet room. It sounded a bit like the wind. "Don't you?"

"Sometimes." He thought about it, tilting his head back— and changed his mind. "Most of the time. I think he just forgot how to do emotions, somewhere along the way." And he knew it, too. Or maybe Alfred convinced him. Why else would he ask Dick to come help with the search?

"What?" Jason snorted in disbelief. "So he just forgot what it was like to love someone? And now he can't deal with someone who loves a little differently?" The watery sneer was clear in his voice, even if Dick couldn't hear it.

"Your love isn't different," Dick reminded, almost gently, but Jason would hate that. It sounded more gruff. "It's just for different people than society tells us we should be loving."

"Shut up."

"I can talk to him, you know. If you want me to. I—"

"Shut up. Just... Stop."

Dick's mouth closed, and silence followed. Wind whined and howled against the windows like ghosts (and if there was ever a place for ghosts, this would be it). Jason seemed to be trying to muddle his way through all of them as he tried to come up with something to say.

"He... Didn't seem surprised." Jason paused, as if listening for Bruce in the corners of the room. Dick glanced too, just in case. "Do you think he—?"

"No. He didn't know."

"How do you—"

"Well, for one: there's no actual difference between people like you and people like him, at least when it comes to personality, or any other thing, really. For two..." this was the part where he wavered. Where he decided not say anything, and it would be kept inside for forever. Probably. Maybe he should say it. He still wondered, at night. Would that be best for everyone? Would this help Jason, if he told him?

But he didn't waver, in the end. Not at all. And the words came tumbling out before he could stop them. "Well, he didn't notice me at all, did he?"

When Jason went still, it was quite clear that he hadn't expected it. Despite Jason's usual method of dealing with surprises, this time he stayed quiet, as if trying to listen for a lie. Maybe he was. Maybe he was just ignoring Dick and listening to the wind instead; it really was picking up out there.

Dick, for once, didn't feel like he had to fill the silence at all. This was Jason's thinking time, and interrupting it could end with an explosion— maybe even literally.

By the time the silence came to a close, Dick had just about settled down for the long haul, but Jason's voice came with barely a tremble. It was lowered so that he could only just hear it above the noise outside. If anyone else had been in the room, they wouldn't have heard it. "I told you I didn't want to hear your sob story." It sounded more like relief than a bite back.

"And I told you okay." 

Before either of them could continue, the sharp scent of cold stabbed the air when a gust escaped the window just so. Both of them tensed, like the sound was more of a siren than the natural way of wind.

Silence came again, but it wasn't the full kind of silence that Dick had learned came when someone was hiding inside of it. It was an empty silence, so it wasn't Bruce... But it could have been.

Dick stood. They'd hung around too long, even if it wasn't Bruce. It might be him next time. "Alfred probably followed me on the trackers." He glanced at Jason, who's face peered up from behind his cape. "We can go to my place in Blüdhaven and order takeout, if you want. I know Alfred doesn't give you that stuff."

His voice was gruff with tears and a throat he refused to clear, but Jason looked at least a little better. "Pizza sounds good."

Dick smiled. "Pizza it is."

**Author's Note:**

> The last one felt kinda dry, but I think this one's better.


End file.
